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Author
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Topic: Future fate of Mars robotic landers and rovers
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Fezman92
Member Posts: 1031
From: New Jersey, USA
Registered: Mar 2010
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posted 11-26-2011 10:23 AM
   
When we eventually get to Mars with humans what will happen to all the rovers we sent out? Will they be collected at one point and end up in the Smithsonian and other museums? I know with Apollo, we didn't take the probes back. I could see them possibly taking one of the smaller rovers back with them. |
GACspaceguy
Member Posts: 2476
From: Guyton, GA
Registered: Jan 2006
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posted 11-26-2011 02:05 PM
Remember on Apollo 12 parts of Surveyor came back with them. Any return material from Mars would be a limited quantity but I could see that a part of an earlier spacecraft returned to Earth would have some significant scientific value. |
crash
Member Posts: 318
From: West Sussex, England
Registered: Jan 2011
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posted 11-26-2011 03:05 PM
I think that the huge amount of energy/fuel required to move that extra payload will prohibit a whole rover being returned. Removable data, maybe. |
AusSpace
Member Posts: 25
From: Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
Registered: Nov 2010
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posted 11-26-2011 05:43 PM
Not quite the Martian rovers yet, but NASA has recently begun to look at how to go about protecting sites of historic significance of the moon. Robert Kelso, NASA's director of lunar commercial services at Johnson Space Center in Houston, recently released a draft guideline, setting limits NASA wishes parties to follow when approaching Apollo or other past exploration sites. Until a few years ago, space archeology was only really looked at by a small number of individuals. With the recent flurry in lunar exploration and the Google Lunar X PRIZE awarding bonuses for approaching an Apollo site, NASA thought it was warranted to get the ball rolling on discussing these issues. The new guidelines aren't laws to be enforced, but merely recommendations NASA hopes other parties will observe to protect these important sites with their scientific and culturally values, for future generations, until a more thorough law can be agreed upon. I'm sure that once there are laws preserving lunar artifacts, these will easily be extrapolated upon to include other celestial bodies, especially Mars. |
Hart Sastrowardoyo
Member Posts: 3445
From: Toms River, NJ
Registered: Aug 2000
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posted 11-28-2011 01:38 PM
At the National Air and Space Museum - at least, the last time I looked - is a plaque for a future astronaut to place at the Viking 1 lander, naming it the Thomas A. Mutch Memorial Station, after the former leader of the Viking Lander Imaging Science Team.The Pathfinder lander was renamed the Carl Sagan Memorial Station. (Fictionally, a plaque will also be placed there.) |
Max Q
Member Posts: 399
From: Whyalla South Australia
Registered: Mar 2007
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posted 11-28-2011 11:17 PM
Will such laws even be police-able? And are all sites truly worthy of preservation? I think the first and last are of historical significance and maybe a lunar rover site. But if real science can be carried out the few remaining sites might reveal some interesting info. |
Fezman92
Member Posts: 1031
From: New Jersey, USA
Registered: Mar 2010
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posted 11-28-2011 11:23 PM
I think that the MERs (Spirit and Opportunity) should be among those preserved, along with the Vikings. |
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